Of errands and injury and innocence

What a big, busy Sunday we had.  First we had our breakfasts; the boys ate four eggs apiece.  Then we got ourselves ready and went to the grocery store.  We bought $85 worth of groceries--my backpack fits about $40 unless it's all truffles and foie gras-- but it was OK since we had extra storage space in the bottom of Arram's stroller and in Amiri's backpack.  We snacked on a cheese-and-onion bun, and strawberry milk for the kids, on the walk home.  Arram got tired first and then they both had naps.

After naps we got up and started off for an adventure across the Harbour.  When we were almost to the Ferry Building, Amiri waved a pesky fly away from his face.  Then he started to scream and flail around wildly.  'What's wrong, what's wrong?!?'  'Fly bite me!!!!'

Well, it wasn't a fly at all, but a wasp, and it had stung him right next to his bellybutton.  We scurried over to a bench to examine the wound, and two amazing gentlemen from Auckland Adventure Jets came over.  I thought they'd arrived just to cluck at the pathetic child, as people do, and to make things more complicated for me by wanting to talk.  But they had a first-aid pack from which they supplied antiseptic wipes.  Amiri said they felt cool and good on the sting.  And then, as Amiri's wails quieted and he snuffled up his tears, they gave him a hat just like theirs.  (Thanks guys, that was really great of you.)

We'd missed our boat due to the drama, but that meant there was time to buy an ice cream before the next one.  Which was of course the ultimate cure.

The swelling and redness went down fast, see?  He was OK.

Once we arrived at the park with no further mishaps, we did some of this...


And some of this...


And for the big finish, THIS.

The necessary room

Americans tend to use euphemisms when referring to the room with the toilet.  The ladies/mens room...the powder room...even 'bathroom' is usually not completely accurate.  Europeans call it the water closet or just WC.

In New Zealand there is no such mincing around the point. 

Photos from Amiri's party at school

Arram was brought in to Amiri's classroom with the big kids for teatime.  He was a little nervous but his brother looked out for him.  Amiri was impressed with the big cake.

OMG they're holding hands I can't stand it

And yes they have matching shirts

Then there were candles and singing.

Then it was time for eating.  Amiri got the first slice!

What a fun party.  Even Arram relaxed and had a good time.

Our birthday boy

Four years old!  What a momentous day.  Somehow four seems very grown up, in a way that three just wasn't.

Some highlights from today:

--Opening presents in the morning
--Going to a cafe for breakfast

His right eyelid is swollen from an unfortunate mozzie bite yesterday.

--Having his whole class sing him Happy Birthday upon arriving to school.

--Having cake at teatime, and Arram being brought in from Babies to join him for tea

--Making a birthday crown

--Receiving birthday cards from his friends

--Being brought to ELEPHANT RESTAURANT for dinner, just like he wanted!

--A wristwatch with hands, just like Daddy
--A Jack the Goat story at bedtime, written just for him by Grandpa

Restaurant conversation:

Mama, who's that?

That's Buddha.

Buddha has curly hair like me.

Yyyyyyaaaaaaaaay! Sushi!

Here are some lovely rolls from Sushi Pac down the street.  We've got salmon and avocado on the left, and tuna with sweet corn on the right.

The boys LOVE sushi.  It stems from an Event at school in which Amiri's class made sushi.  They rinsed the rice, boiled it in a rice cooker that one of the teachers brought from home, and then stirred it.  They watched the teachers cut up the cucumber, carrot, and egg.  They soaked the seaweed.  Then they all got to assemble the ingredients just so and roll them up.  Amiri loved it so much... I saw the candid photos that the teachers snapped of the class and he had a big silly grin on his face in every one.  At home, he told us the story of Making Sushi over and over, enthusiastically and proudly.

So what is there for parents to do at that point but to go and buy some sushi?   At first we got them the 'easy' vegetarian rolls, but it soon became apparent that their tastes take after their Daddy's and we introduced the more challenging options featuring raw fish into their menu.  They love them all.  They also (passionately, intensely) love the soy sauce fishies.  They sometimes nibble but mostly leave the ginger.  The wasabi packet is completely unacceptable.

Earthquake update

It's bad but nowhere near as bad as it could have been, I suppose-- property damages far outweigh human casualties.  The confirmed dead number between 30-60, depending on where you get your news, and search-and-rescue teams have brought in sniffer dogs to find survivors in the rubble.

I'm finding that foreign news sources are the most reliable.  Local reporters seem to be overly emotionally involved and prone to fearmongering... for instance, today's paper screamed, '300 feared dead!' but the story below the fold reveals that the actual number is only 38.
  

The Christchurch earthquake

Poor Christchurch.  There's been another earthquake.  They had one about five months ago, and have been having a scary series of aftershocks ever since.  Today there was another big one.  And it looks pretty bad.

We're on the other island, and we didn't even feel it.  We're safe.

But there are reports of major damage, deaths, and injuries there. 

The local paper's website has information about it.  Click to read, and then hit your 'refresh' button.  They update it every few minutes.

The earthquake in September was a 7.1, same as the earthquake that basically levelled Haiti.  But Chch sustained amazingly little damage in that quake-- mostly cosmetic.  They attributed the lack of deaths/injuries to the fact that it came at about 4:30 AM and everyone was at home in bed instead of out in the street where things could fall on them.  Today's quake was 6.3, they're saying, followed closely by aftershocks of 5.7 and 5.3.  Reports of structural damage sound more widespread this time, not surprisingly I suppose since the whole area has been rattled again and again in recent months.  As for the human cost, it came right during the lunch hour, so... well.
 

Big helper

Amiri is growing up so big and strong.  So we've put him to work.  He is in charge of pushing his brother's stroller now. 

At least, when Mom and Dad say it's OK.
 

Celebrating Valentine's Day

I got just what I wanted :-)

Oh, excuse me, did I just stumble and fall into FASCISM?

I just found this photo buried in all my pics from December.  I snapped this in the Colorado airport while waiting to board our plane.  I'd forgotten about it but now in happening across it I'm all heated again.

'If you see something, say something'??  Like, inform on your neighbor, keep a suspicious eye on your family members like good DHS-jugend?  I know I've been away from the States for a while and am losing touch with some of the zeitgeist.  But come on, can this be a real thing?  Officially sanctioned and all?  The threat rainbow was kinda more ridiculous than anything, but this thing just makes me sad.

I see that Walmart is all about it.  At first I was surprised about that, then on second thought completely not. 

Well, that's it, I'm probably on some list now.  Send me food in the gulag.
 

The Soren Larsen

An old-school sailing ship docks near home from time to time.  She's gorgeous...

...and she's had quite a history, including hauling freight, starring in films, racing, and circumnavigating the globe.  Now you can rent her for anything from a leisurely sunset dinner cruise around the harbour to a month-long voyage to the Cook Islands where you'll be expected to use your muscles as part of the crew.

Little boys love drinking fountains!

Arram meets the lions

A new restaurant has put up stone lions at its entrance.  Arram is intimidated by them even though he understands they aren't real.  He roars at them when we walk by, and squeals in delighted terror when we get close.

Happy birthday, Daddy!

When I told the boys that it was Daddy's birthday today, you'd have thought I'd said we won the lottery.  They screamed 'YAY!!!!!!', jumped up and down, threw themselves ecstatically into my arms, and generally flailed about in excitement.   They both wrote their names in Daddy's card and gleefully wished him a happy birthday when we arrived home.

Later in the bathtub, I asked Amiri if he knew how old Daddy was now.  He said, 'Yes, he's forty four.'  Of course that response made me gripe internally...  Gosh, Amiri, we had this same conversation six months ago....  Your parents are not in their forties, OK?  The gray hair might be fooling you, but we've still got some time before we hit that milestone.  This kid... gonna be shoving us into the old-age home at 50...


But then he totally redeemed himself.  He started to laugh, and said, 'No, Mama, I'm joking.  Daddy's not forty four.  He's twenty three!  Same as you!'
 
 

The Viaduck

So we went out for a walk the other day, just running some errands and taking the shortcut through the Viaduct, and... um.  Our eagle eyes spotted something unusual.

Yep, don't mind me, I'm just a 40-foot tall rubber ducky bobbing in the harbour, moored up next to the sailboats.  Just gonna float here.   It's OK if you want to take my picture.  I'm just a duck.  I'm doing my ducky thing.

There were no signs, no 'event', no announcements, no explanation.  Just a mysteriously-appeared ducky and a bunch of bewildered, bemused tourists (and locals) taking its photo. 

It turns out he is capital-A Art, and also a rather un-missable bit of marketing for the rebranding of one of the TV stations. 
 

A fair go, though the water does attract the eye

Just a photo today to give a little more perspective on our home environment.  Previously, I've shown you what it looks like to the right of our balcony.  Here is what it looks like if you look down and to the left.

The low concrete building with the white roof is the Tepid Baths.  The tall building with the top cut off is Quay West, a posh hotel where a penthouse suite will set you back $1265 per night.  And Tower is an insurance company.  Parking on the street is hourly Pay and Display, which you can top-up by sending a text. 
 

Memory and reading skills

It's been over a month since we've been back in New Zealand.  Every so often, though, Amiri comes out with something that suggests he's been mulling over in his mind all the events from our visit in Chicago.  Things I hadn't even known he'd paid attention to.

For instance, the other day he was excited and wiggling around and making all sorts of nonsensical little-boy exclamations.  One of them was, 'Oh!  Shami kebab!'  Don't know how that popped up in this context, but I will keep it in mind as a suggested alternative at the point when the boys inevitably pick up swear words. 

And this morning when he came over to cuddle, he took my hand and started pretend-drawing on my skin.  He explained he was putting henna on my hands.  Drawing love-hearts and snails, he said.  'Hold still, Mama.  You have to let it dry.  Then you can go like this (miming scraping off the dried paste).'  Then he decorated my feet.

In unrelated but also Cutely Intellectual news, today Amiri read Arram every word of The Foot Book. 
 

Yeah, Mom, I got this sliding thing down

Opening hours

Here is a picture of the pharmacy at the mall.  Like all the other shops in the building, it is closed and locked up.

The issue?  I took this photo at 6:00 PM on a Wednesday. 

Aside from restaurants and places like gyms or convenience stores, shops tend to keep to business hours.  There's no picking something up on the way to work or after your commute; you have to make time to go shopping during your day, or else wait for Saturday.  It's like living in a small town inside the country's biggest city.  I still haven't gotten used to this.